In prior vacuum stripping operations the rollers that have been used for stripping waste from the cut patterns have operated at a low vacuum and without adjustment means to control the direction or force that the vacuum or pressure exerts upon the web. While this method has been affective in the area of fabric die cutting, where the cut is usually clean, and only requires a small amount of vacuum to separate the cut portions, it is not the case when asphalt saturated foam backed felt web is being cut, since the die cut is not usually clean and requires a high vacuum to separate the uncut and cut portions of the web. The high vacuum, however, tends to cause the asphalt felt to stick to the roller after the vacuum is released and therefore there has been a need for a release and cleaning system for the vacuum to properly separate the cut patterns from the asphalt web a solid base for backing the cut pattern is needed to prevent ripping which would normally destroy the cut patterns.
The object of this invention is to have a segmented pressure vacuum roller that is capable of exerting a high vacuum or pressure in addition to having adjustment means for directional and force control along the length of the roller.